To start the week Lindie Naughton brings us all the Irish endurance action and news from the weekend just gone (Tuesday 19th November).
Ann-Marie McGlynn (Letterkenny AC) made Irish athletics history at Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh on Sunday (November 17) when winning the women’s 6.5km race only a mere four weeks after taking her first ever title at the Irish Marathon Championships in Dublin.
It is the first ever time any Irish athlete had both both these titles in one year.
McGlynn, a former Irish junior International who took a long break from the sport and will turn forty-five next February, was as shocked as anyone else by her unexpected victory. She had lined out in Irvinestown purely in the hope of helping her club to team victory and a place at the European Club Championships.
‘I can’t believe it – it wasn’t in the plan! I’ve done very little training in the past few weeks, but I’m very fit I could tap into that’.
McGlynn had found herself in the top eight after a ‘very scrappy’ first lap before moving into the top three and then taking the lead. ‘I didn’t do anything then other than staying in front.’
She conceded that the course, over 6.5km of occasionally muddy fields, suited here. ‘It was a workhorse course where you had to grind it out and get it done. I’m good at that!’
Now McGlynn will lead the Irish women’s team at next months’ European Championships in Turkey.
First Irishwoman for a second year in Dublin – Ann-Marie McGlynn. Photo: Lindie Naughton
Finishing behind her in Irvinestown was Niamh Allen who was leading Leevale to team victory, McGlynn’s club, Letterkenny finish second ,with a team consisting entirely of master athletes over the age of 35.
Finishing third and best of the Dublin clubs was Dublin City Harriers led by Jodie McCann who finished seventh. Winning the county title was Cork, with Dublin beating Donegal by a single point for second.
Finishing eighth and first Under 23 was recently crowned Dublin senior champion Emma McEvoy. Amy Green (Finn Valley) was second and Roise Roberts (CNDR) third.
The men’s race over 6.5km
A clear winner of the men’s race was Keelin Kilrehill (Moy Valley) with a time of exactly 23 minutes for the 6.5km course, a much reduced distance from the previous 10km distance and identical to the distance run by the women.
Almost half a minute behind in 23:28 was Niall Murphy (Ennis TC) who was also first U23. Defending champion Cormac Dalton (Mullingar Harriers) finished a close third in 23:31, while fourth in 23:40 was Efrem Gidey of Clonliffe Harriers. Finished seventh and second U23 was Nick Griggs (CNDR), while eighth and third U23 was Cathal O’Reilly (Kilkenny City Harriers). Belfast-based CNDR Track won the team title for the very first time, beating North Belfast Harriers and Ennis Track Club. It was a first victory for an Northern Irish team in almost 70 years — East Antrim had ‘retained’ the title in 1955!
In tenth place Pierre Murchan was leading Dublin City Harriers to victory in the B category. Winning the county title was Dublin with Gidey, Murchan, Eanna Ó Bradaigh (DSD), John Travers (Donore Harriers), and Clonliffe pair Sean O’Leary and Colm Rooney. Galway and second and Clare third.
Winning the junior men’s race was Wicklow man Jonas Stafford , currently a student at UCD. Frank McGrath (Lagan Valley) was second, and recently crowned Dublin champion Sean Quinn (DSD) third. Noah Harris (Parnell AC) was fourth and first U18.
Clonliffe Harriers, led by Ronan Luff in 11th place, proved best of the teams ahead of Lagan Valley and Dundrum South Dublin. With six finished in the top 19, Dublin took the county team title comfortably. Cork was second and Antrim third.
Winning the U18 team title was Donore Harriers. Nenagh Olympic was second and Clonliffe Harriers third.
Lucy Foster (Willowfield Harriers) won the women’s junior race, with Annabel Morrison (Enniskillen AC0 second and Avril Millerick (Youghal AC) third. Finishing sixth was Megan Brunt (Blackrock AC) who was also second U18 behind Eva Bartlett (Lagan Valley). Best of the junior teams was Lagan Valley, with Clonliffe second. In a closely-fought county team championships, Louth beat Dublin on count-back, with both teams finishing with 54 points.
Cross-country elsewhere
Winners at the Ledwith Construction BHAA 6km Cross-Country, held at Ledwith Farm, Batterstown, Co Meath on Sunday were BHAA ‘regular’ Paul Fleming (Ornua and also Rathfarnham WSAF) and local athlete Eimear English (Dunboyne AC) Fleming was pushed hard mid-race but pulled away for victory by Des Tremble (Dept of Social Protection and Donore Harriers) on the last of three laps, finishing in 21 mins 49 secs. Tremble) was second in 22:02 and Fred Kiernan (DCC) third in 22:19.
English was 16th overall in 25:01. Leona O’Reilly (Gardai) was second and Patricia Ferguson third. Taking the team prize were the Accountants, with Gardai second and ESB third. Next BHAA race is the inaugural Santa 6km at McGee Park in Tallaght (a new venue) with St Mark’s GAA the race HQ. Details www.bhaa.ie
Masters cross-country in strong health
A day earlier and only for the second time ever, Ireland was the overall winner at the annual British and Irish Masters International Cross-Country, hosted by the Northern Ireland Masters Association at the Billy Neill Playing Fields, in Belfast.
Individually, Fiona Gettings (Longford AC) W40) was overall winner of the women’s over 35 plus race, with Clare McGuigan (Letterkenny AC) also over 40, finishing second. A day later, McGuigan would help her club Letterkenny AC to second place at the All Ireland Cross-Country Championships in Co Fermanagh.
Finishing fourth and first W35 was Sharon Rynne (Leevale AC) , while fifth and third W40 was Kate Purcell (Raheny Shamrock). With Catherine Thornton (Galway City Harriers) sixth and second W35, backed up by Breffni Kelly (Clane AC) 14th, Ireland won both W35 and W40 team categories.
Ireland also won the W45 team title, led by Michelle Kenny (Leevale AC), eighth overall, and the W65 title , where Pauline Moran (Mayo AC) was the individual winner followed by Sheelagh Jones (Rathfarnham WSAF) fourth and Grainne Grennan (Blackrock AC) eighth. In the W55 category, Annette Kealy (Raheny Shamrock) added yet another individual title to her collection, with the team finishing second.
In the men’s M35-45 race, Eoin Mullan (Omagh Harriers) was ninth and third M40, followed by Eoin Flynn (Rathfarnham WSAF) 11th and fifth M40. Mark Ryan (Rathfarnham WSF ) was second M45 and Alexander Wallace (St Coca’s AC) third in this age group. In the team categories, Ireland won both the M40 and M45 and was second M35.
M70 Irish team at British and Irish Masters International. Photo Joe Gough.
Age no limitation in the mud
Winning the men’s M50-60 race was Declan Toal (North East Runners). Des Kennedy (Croghan AC) in fourth place was first M55 and Eamonn White fifth overall and second M55 for Northern Ireland, with the Northern Ireland team second in this age group behind England. Ireland, with four in the top nine, was the winning M50 team and also finished second in the M60 age group led by Tommy Hughes (Stride AC) who was fourth individual.
Finally, in the M65-75 race, Tommy Payne (Tinryland AC) was second overall followed by Laurence Johnston for Northern Ireland. Ireland won the team category, with Northern Ireland second.
With Joe Gough (West Waterford) leading the team home in second place, Ireland was also second in the M70 age group with Northern Ireland third.Finally, in the M75 age group, Martin McEvilly (Galway City Harriers) was the individual winner, with the team placed third.
Overall, Ireland ended up on 69 points, followed by England 61, Scotland 48, Northern Ireland 32 points and Wales 16. Ireland last won the overall title in 2022 — the first time in the history of this event that England was beaten.
Keeping victory in the family on the roads
Michael Flanagan (Galway City Harriers) led them home at the annual Hollymount International Road Race on Sunday (November 17) , completing the 10km course around the Co Mayo village in a personal best time of 34 mins 18 secs, Flanagan also won the race in 2022. He was keeping it in the family: back in 1967, his father Tom had won the race. Two athletes from Tuam AC finished second and third — Paul Kearney in 34.37 and Sean Burke in 36:13.
Caroline Coulter (Tireragh AC ) was first woman in 40:49, with Angela O’Connor (Mayo AC, W55) second in 42.28 and Denise Barrett (Loughrea C) third in 42:21.
At the Cork BHAA Clearstream Deutsche Börse 5km, on the Marina course in Cork, Gavin O’Rourke (Eli Lilly) led home close to 500 finishers in a time of15:20. A close second in 15:20 was Daniel Buckley (Ken’s Track Club), while third was Nathan O’Leary (Army) in 15:42. First woman in 18:26 was Siobhan Hoare (HSE, W45). Linda O’Connor (Musgrave, W50) was second and Vicki Spiteri (CU Hospital, W35) third in 19:45.
A day earlier, course records were set by both the men and women’s winner at the Churchtown Road Runners 10-Mile in Co Cork on Saturday (November 16).
Karl Fitzmaurice (Shannon AC) was the overall race winner in 53 mins 43 secs, with Kealey Tideswell (Clonmel AC, W40) first woman in 59.56. Second overall and first M50 was Vivian Foley (Eagle AC) in 55;45.
Also on Saturday. Peter Tuohy (Naas AC) was the winner of the Bear Races Clontarf Half Marathon in Dublin oOn Saturday (November 16). Tuohy’s time of 73:08 put him over two minutes clear of second placed Kieran Little (Blackrock AC) who finished in 75:44. First woman in 81:17 was Helena Butterly. A total of 3,476 completed the commercially-organised run along the Clontarf coast.
A further 1,310 completed the 5-mile, with Igor Radev the winner in 26:24 and Bernadette Bruen (Raheny Shamrock, W50) first woman in 31:57.
Daire Power at Run the Line 26km. Photo Lindie Naughton.
Off-road in the hills
Irish international mountain runner Matthew McConnell (Ballyroan, Abbeyleix and District) was the winner of the 26km race at the annual Dublin and Wicklow Mountain Rescue organised Run the Line from Glencullen Adventure Park on Saturday (November 17).
McConnell was on his own from early on and he finished in a time of 1 hr 56 mind 44 secs for a course which took in Fairy Castle, Three Rock, Pine Forest and Cruagh Woods.
Second in 2:05.53 was Brendan Joy from Kerry, while third in 2:08.42 was Chris Powell.
First woman was ultra trail runner Nicola Soraghan in 2:20.57. Aoife O’Brien was second in 2:31.53 and Rosie Temple third in 2:35.48.
In the shorter 13km race, Ivan Rigal was the winner in 57:35 followed by Shane Minogue in 57:31 and Michel Lynch in 59:12. Catie Robinson was first woman in 64:59 followed by Denise Molloy in 68. 57 and Louise Mahoney in 69.18.
7 marathon in 7 days
At the first of the 7 Marathons in 7 Days Great World Race William Maunsell of Clonmel AC not only won the opening race at Wolf’s Fang in Antarctica on Thursday (November 14) but set a new World Antarctica Marathon record of 2 hrs 38 mins 42 secs breaking the record set by fellow Clonmel AC member Sean Tobin. Finishing third in 3 hrs 19 mins was Ger Prendergast of Ballymun AC.
The marathoners then moved on to South Africa, then Australia, followed by Turkey (two races; one in Asia the second in Europe), then South America and finally North America. More next week.
Catch-up
A record 149 completed the first round of the annual Meet and Train Women’s Winter League Cross-Country held held in Tymon Park on Sunday (November 10).
Leading them home was Roisin McMahon (Sportsworld A) with Lisa Gaughan (Dundrum South Dublin A) second and Rachel Calvey (Sportsworld A) third.
With three rounds left (all in the New Year) new clubs are welcome to join in the fun. Dates are January 12, DSD Tibradden Lane; February 9 , Marino (DFR hosting) and March 2, Abbotstown (Blackrock/Waterstown hosting) with a social run and prize-giving at Irishtown (Crusaders hosting) on April 6. Info: fionashine@gmail.com
A closely-fought men’s race saw DCU beating University of Galway by just s a single second at the annual Irish Universities Road Relays hosted by NUI Maynooth on Friday (November 8). Taking the women’s title was UCD ahead of UCC and DCU.
Bringing the DCU men home on the final leg was Finn Woodger (also Metro St Brigid’s). Other strong legs were run by Pierre Murchan (Trinity/DCH) whose time of 14 mins 36 secs for three mile leg was the fastest of the day, and Dublin junior men’s champion Sean Quinn (UCD/DSD) with 9:40in the second two-mile, which also the fastest time.
Making up the winning UCD team were Hannah Kehoe (also KCH), recently crowned Dublin senior cross-country champion Emma McEvoy (DSD), Aoife McGreevy (Lagan Valley) and Sadhbh Mohan (MSB).
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Source: fastrunning.com